Tuesday, 30 May 2017

Island 373 - Inishnee/Inis Ní, County Galway

Inishnee (Inis Ní in Irish) is linked by a bridge to the mainland of County Galway two miles to the north of the small town of Roundstone. It is low lying and is about 3 miles from north to south by a mile from east to west at its widest point.Before the Great Famine of the 1850s the island had a population of 455. In 2011 the population was just 43. It is also home to lots of Irish hares but they were hiding from me, so I didn't see any.In 2010 Monty Halls lived in a cottage on the island for six months while he was filming Monty Halls Great Irish Escape. You can stay in the same cottage, as it is rented as a self-catering holiday property. However it isn't the world's most exciting island, the road running down the west coast of the island is a bit narrow and the island doesn't have any amenities. It felt rather bleak to me even on a sunny evening in May.About half way down the island there is a turning off the left down an even narrower lane, which leads to the ruined Chapel of St Matthew and an ancient graveyard. There are a couple of holy wells marked on the Ordnance Survey map but I didn't look for either of them.

Ruined cottage on Inishnee

View from a small car park looking east

Boat graveyard and pony

Small copse of trees

The town of Roundstone from Inishnee

Roundstone from Inishnee

New houses on Inishnee

Not sure what this ruin is

Plaque commemorating the opening of the new Inishnee Bridge in 2001

Mountains of Connemara from Inishnee

St Matthew's Chapel and Graveyard

I think the southern part of Inishnee used to be a separate tidal island, now linked by this causeway